Publication

Abstract : Hypnale hypnale (hump-nosed pit viper) is a venomous pit viper species found in the Western 24 Ghats of India and Sri Lanka. Due to the severe life-threatening envenomation effects induced by 25 its venom components, Hypnale hypnale has been classified under ‘category 1’ of medically 26 important snake species by the World Health Organization. Since there are no specific antivenoms 27 available to combat its envenomation in India, the only option available is to administer Indian 28 polyvalent antivenoms. However, the cross-neutralization potential of the commercially available 29 polyvalent antivenoms on Indian Hypnale hypnale venom has not been explored so far. In the 30 current study, in vitro immunological cross-reactivity of Hypnale hypnale venom towards various 31 Indian polyvalent antivenoms were assessed using end point titration ELISA and Western blotting. 32 A three to four-fold increase in EC50 values were obtained for Hypnale hypnale venom towards all 33 the antivenoms tested. Observation of minimal binding specificities towards low and high 34 molecular mass venom proteins are suggestive of the fact that commercially available polyvalent 35 antivenoms failed to detect and bind to the antigenic epitopes of considerable number of proteins 36 present in Hypnale hypnale venom. This highlights the importance of including Hypnale hypnale 37 venom in the immunization mixture while raising antivenoms.